A'shua Imran (b. 1986) is a multidisciplinary artist working predominately with painting, performance & installations. He began his studies at LASALLE College of the Arts (Singapore) and received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art (Goldsmiths, UK) in 2014. He has participated in several exhibitions and presented his works in Singapore, The Netherlands, Thailand, Israel, Egypt, U.K. South Africa and Spain.

Currently, Imran is the artistic director of Mural Lingo, a Singapore-registered social enterprise engaged in the arts, education and publishing. He founded the independent platform in 2014 with the primary focus on offering an incubation space for undergraduates to develop their skills and creating opportunities for artists to practice murals in their community.

He regularly offers talks and workshops in educational & cultural institutions, and participated in an artist-in-residence programme between September to December 2017 at Bag Factory Studio in Johannesburg, South Africa.

My exploration with ropes began as a curiosity about the underlying elements of ‘shibari’ performances - an erotic Japanese bondage art form that uses ropes to create geometric patterns that contrast beautifully with the human body’s contours. Practitioners rely on the tensions produced by knotting, tugging and pulling ropes across their partner’s body to foster a palpable connection with them, even where there is no contact between their physical forms.

The essence of ‘shibari’ hence lies in the delicate trade of submission and dominance, and of the psychological trust and emotional intimacy established between partners. Within such a context, the rope acquires a deeply symbolic meaning of power exchanges; of vulnerability, of strength against exposure, of calm at the edge of risk. As an artist who regularly delves into the performative, I intuitively recognise the potency of non-verbal communication between two individuals: the way the gaze, gestures, movements and momentum operate to create forms of heightened sensuality.

“Le Rouge” was born out of this precise exploration and manifested itself as a series of rope-bound and red-painted canvases. Through the use of the colour red, viewers are invited to experience the enigmatic and otherwise non-visible aspects of human desire. In the spirit of the ‘shibari’ artists who follow a long and tedious process of rope treatment (first boiling it in hot water, then drying, stretching, oiling and burning any loose hairs), I apply the same degree of care and attentiveness towards my art-making. A ritualistic and transmutative process takes place as sensuality assumes a material form.